Recently the phrase ”友谊的小船说翻就翻 [yǒu yì de xiǎo chuán shuō fān jiù fān]”, meaning “The Boat of Friendship Suddenly Tips Over”, went viral in China and spread through WeChat's moments and friend circles. In this lesson, we learn where this phrase came from and how you can use it.

The origin of the phrase is the classic American sitcom 老友记 [lǎo yǒu jì]（Friends）, where the male nanny Sandy teaches Joey:

Q：And what's the one kind of boat they can never, ever sink?
A：A Friendship.

Friendship in Chinese is 友谊 [yǒu yì], and ship (literal) is 小船 [xiǎo chuán], so the literal translation of friendship becomes 友谊的小船 [yǒu yì de xiǎo chuán]. This interesting joke originally appeared in a series of comics published by a cartoonist named 喃东尼(Nandongni) on his/her Weibo. Let’s look at some of them.

Hover over any word to show translation

chéng zuò

乘坐

乘坐

to ride (in a vehicle)

zài

在

在

(located) at, (to be) in

yǒu yì

友谊

友誼

fellowship, friendship

zhī

之

之

(possessive particle)

chuán

船

船

boat, ship

de

的

的

(used after an attribute)

liǎng

两

兩

two

ge

个

個

classifier for people or objects in general

hǎo péng you

好朋友

好朋友

good friend

，

rú guǒ

如果

如果

if, in case

yì

一

一

one

fāng

方

方

side, party (to a contract, dispute etc)

biàn

变

變

to change, to become

shòu

瘦

瘦

thin, to lose weight

，

yǒu yì

友谊

友誼

fellowship, friendship

de

的

的

(used after an attribute)

xiǎo chuán

小船

小船

boat

shuō

说

說

to say

fān

翻

翻

to turn over, to flip over

jiù

就

就

at once, right away

fān

翻

翻

to turn over, to flip over

ò

哦

哦

sentence-final particle that conveys informality or friendliness

。

Two friends sit on the friendship boat. If one of them suddenly loses weight, the friendship boat will suddenly tip over.

Character set

Pinyin

说…就… [shuō …jiù …]

说…就…is a grammar pattern literally meaning “as soon as you say x, x happens”, and is used to express that something occurs easily and suddenly. So 说翻就翻 [shuō fān jiù fān] means the friendship boat will quickly tip over. Here are some other examples of how this grammar pattern can be used: